The bill would get rid of the management certificate and replace it with a license for boutique services such as hair braiding and brow threading. Democratic State Rep. Alicia Reese says this license will legitimize those services.

“This makes people more on the grid, makes sure safety is a first priority and then brings them into the mainstream where they are taxpaying citizens and small-business owners.”

But Sue Carter Moore with the Salon Schools group says the changes lower standards.

“You will not receive education in sanitation, sterilization and communicable diseases -- those kinds of things that are easily passed on.”

Supporters say current law allows cosmetology schools to offer courses students don’t need, making their training more expensive than it needs to be.